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Luxury Without Leather: Will Vegan Cars Gain Popularity?

Do a Google search for “vegan car” and the first result is likely to involve Tesla. The company is the first luxury automaker to offer a 100 percent animal-free vehicle. That, of course, means no leather seats, no leather steering wheel, no leather gear shifter, and no animal products in the glue that holds everything together.

Luxury cars have become synonymous with leather, but for people who are compassionate about the treatment of animals, the idea of leather can be repulsive. It’s a growing community of folks but the world’s most prominent automakers have yet to conform to their wishes and build cars that are truly animal-free.

One writer spent at least four months trying to sort out which cars use animal products and which don’t. His results are surprising because so few vehicles are completely free of animal skins or byproducts.

How likely is that to change?

If you want to buy a new Audi, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, Lincoln, Acura, or Volvo, you won’t be able to escape the presence of processed cowhide. Even automakers that offer synthetic leather seating still sell their cars with a genuine leather-wrapped steering wheel, which can’t be replaced with another material.

The vast majority of car shoppers demand leather and expect it in higher-end cars, which is why the automakers have made the material so prolific. It’s impossible, quite literally, to buy a new mass-produced performance or luxury car that is made without animal products. Even ordering a custom one-off version is unlikely due to rigid manufacturing processes.

Leather isn’t a problem for most buyers, but for the growing segment of the population who call themselves vegan, car shopping can be an exercise in futility. It doesn’t seem like that’ll change anytime soon.

22 Comments

I am interested in the 2019 Volvo XC40 but it only comes in leather. I contacted Volvo and they did not come across as if there were going to be an option for next year. I have always had leather but recently have become more aware of cruelty and pollution.

OMG. Tesla, how you gonna call a car a Vegan with a straight face? It’s a damned MACHINE.

It’s not the incredible level of pretentiousness on display when Tesla decides to market their cars as “Vegan” that bothers me, it’s the fact that I’ve been driving Vegan cars for years and nobody bothered to give ME any props! That first 1982 Chevy Chevette that I inherited from my sister? Leatherless. Vegan as HELL. Same with the Ford Escort that replaced it. And many cars to follow. It took me until law school to drive a car with a leather interior, and I could have been traipsing around acting all superior, like my car had a social conscience, when in fact it was just CHEAP.
I never knew that NOT having leather was going to be a selling point to brag about – I was just BROKE.
*SMH*

Absolutely. The sooner vehicle manufacturers abandon cruelty the better. I haven’t bought a new car in over 4 years and only now that there are more vegan inferior options am I even considering it. But I am reluctant to buy a car from a manufacturer that produces a vegan interior while continuing to profit from leather interior cars off the same production line.

Much like some of the other comments, I would like more options than Tesla, but if that’s my only option, then I guess I’ll probably end up getting a Tesla. I feel like I was tricked a few years ago when I bought my Prius, because I was assured by the dealer that there was no leather. I bought the top model though, which means that the steering wheel is in fact made of leather…

Would absolutely be interested in a luxury car without leather. The lack of alternative should be a problem for many more people. Many religions accept that animals can be used for food and clothing but should not suffer as a result. How can anyone be certain of how the animal used for a car interior was treated? Environmentally, the tanning process is extremely damaging and leather takes a ridiculously long time to breakdown. Seeing leather as a luxury is just bonkers and backwards.

I am allergic to the repugnant odor that emanates from the leather lined seats. Would love to lease
a Lexus that does not carry a leather lined seat. I reside in Deerfield Beach, Fl. Cannot find a dealership
here that fits that criterion.
Please to let me know if there is one and also their phone number.